The Kia Cerato hatch has launched in Australia from a starting price of $19,990 drive-away, matching that of its recently launched sedan.

The three-grade Kia Cerato range will stretch from $19,990 for the base model S with a manual transmission to $29,990 for the range topping SLI automatic.

Kia Australia says the Cerato hatch will represent 70 percent of Cerato’s sales volume, with the sedan accounting for only 30 percent.

Featuring the same equipment grade as the sedan, the base model Kia Cerato S is powered by a 1.8-litre four-cylinder engine that develops 110kW of power and 178Nm of torque while the mid range Si and top of the range SLi get a 2.0-litre four-cylinder unit with 129kW of power and 209Nm of torque.

The Kia Cerato S hatch, which is expected to the volume seller in the range, will use 6.6L of fuel per 100km in manual form and 7.1L when coupled to a six speed automatic. It will go from a standstill to 100km/h in 9.3 seconds or 10.2 seconds with coupled to a manual or automatic transmissions.

The 2.0-litre engine in the mid and top spec models sips 7.4L/100km for both manual and automatic and nails the 0-100km/h time in 8.5 seconds for the manual and 9 seconds flat for the automatic.

The hatch weighs roughly 20kg more than its sedan brother, coming in at 1308kg to 1339kg depending on variant (kerb weight).

Compared to the previous generation Cerato hatch, the new car weighs 40-60kg less, with the boot size increased by over 100L, now to 657L. Build quality has also improved, with the use of higher tensile steel allowing torsional rigidity to increase by 37 percent.

The Kia Cerato hatch and sedan are expected to get a five-star safety rating when ANCAP releases the results next Monday.

CarAdvice is at the launch of the new Kia Cerato hatch on the Gold Coast, expect a full review in the next 24 hours.